This Issue: Pres. Trump tells The Economist that he doesn't want to cut legal immigration to the United States
This week's issue of the The Economist
focuses on Pres. Donald Trump's outlook on the global economy,
including his thoughts on legal immigration to the United States where
he said that he doesn't want to cut immigration. The interview sounded
alarm bells for those seeking to reduce existing immigration levels.
As
with most things policy related that come from the President, his
answer lacked detail, but that doesn't make it any less concerning.
Trump reinforced his commitment to ending illegal immigration, but when
asked if he's seeking to reduce overall numbers, his response was
troubling, but vague.
He was then asked specifically about reducing overall legal immigration numbers.
Trump
spoke more in detail of his plan to replace the existing immigration
system with a merit-based system like Canada's and Australia's. He said
he wants "talented people" who are going to "love our country". He also
said that they'd be ineligible for any sort of public assistance for at
least 5 years.
It's
not tough to meet those standards without reducing legal immigration
numbers. The last two attempts by Congress to pass "comprehensive
immigration reform" (2007 and 2013) included merit-based systems, but
neither system would have limited immigration to only "talented people"
nor would they reduce legal immigration. In fact, both proposals
increased legal immigration by awarding points to foreign citizens who
had previously done low-skilled work in the United States or had
extended family connections to U.S. citizens and green card holders,
regardless of their potential need to rely on public benefits.
So
what does Trump mean when he says "talented people"? Does "talented
people" include foreign citizens with truly extraordinary skills who
would fill jobs where there's no qualified American worker available?
Or, does "talented people" simply mean someone with a certain level of
education, skills, or experience?
Each
year, more than 800,000 U.S. citizens earn either a master's or
doctorate degree. If Trump's merit-based system is based solely on
educational attainment, those 800,000 U.S. citizens would be forced to
compete for jobs with foreign citizens who have the same educational
attainment without regard for the job market's needs for each field of
study.
During his Joint Address to Congress back in February, Pres. Trump said:
It'll
be tough to keep legal immigration numbers at or above 1 million per
year while also protecting wages for vulnerable workers and relieving
the pressure on taxpayers.
It's
entirely possible that Pres. Trump didn't want to come across in the
interview as being against legal immigration, which would be consistent
with some of his past statements on legal immigration. Mark Krikorian
from the Center for Immigration Studies recalled some similar comments
that Trump made during the campaign in his recent column in the National Review.
But
it's also possible that Trump is being influenced by the same Big
Business and establishment interests that seek increased immigration and
have influenced every President for the last 50 years.
As
Mark wrote in his column, Trump needs to listen less to Big Business
and more to Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) who introduced the RAISE Act, which
would reduce legal immigration by up to 50% by eliminating the visa
lottery and ending chain migration. Sen. Cotton was the only Member of
Congress to speak out on the Senate floor last week against the omnibus
spending bill that doubled the number of H-2B guest worker visas. (You
can watch Sen. Cotton's Senate floor speech here.)
Getting
Trump to listen more to Sen. Cotton is where the voters and the
grassroots activists come in. We've set up a new action where you can
send a message to the White House and a Tweet to Pres. Trump, urging him
to protect American workers by reducing legal immigration. To take
action, click here.
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| chris chmielenski | Immigrants Oppose Illegal Immigration; Native-born Americans Shocked
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